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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Newburgh: A Tale of Two Cities

by Felicia Hodges

Mention Newburgh and chances are pretty good that peaceful,
idyllic settings won’t come to mind. What most people envision when Newburgh
comes up in conversation are crime, poverty and abandoned buildings – urban blight
in all its glory. Because of the number of female-headed households, high
unemployment rate, poverty and the percentage of adult residents without a high
school diploma or GED, the city was listed as one of the state’s most stressed
cities in the early 1980s where it remains to this day. And according to the
U.S. Census, a little over 25 percent of Newburgh’s population lived below the
federal poverty line in 2000. Like many inner-city areas, Newburgh has its
tribulations. But it also has its triumphs.

Nestled at the
northeastern tip of Orange County, the City of Newburgh only has 3.8 square
miles of land but is home to New York State’s second largest historic district
and even has two sites named to the National Register of Historic Places – the Dutch
Reform Church and Washington’s Headquarters. Gorgeous views of the Hudson
River? Newburgh’s got that. Stunning architecture complete with a bevy of
Gothic, Greek and Colonial revival-style buildings that could rival many a
Brooklyn neighborhood? Yep, it’s got that too. The beauty of the area and the
fact that it is only 60 miles from New York City is a huge draw for folks who
may work in NYC but want to live and play a little further north.

“If you look
around, it’s gorgeous,” says Barbara Ballarini, who moved to Newburgh with her
husband, Edwine Seymour and their then two-year-old daughter in 2005 to open
Caffé Macchiato, a restaurant that sits directly across the street from
Washington’s headquarters. “For us, it was the Hudson River, definitely. That
and the idea that we’d be in front of one of the most historic areas in the
city.”

“Having a
brownstone in any of the five boroughs [of New York City] is virtually
impossible” says 25-year-old Long Island native Cherry Vick who plans on
re-locating with her fiancé after their wedding later this year. “So I started
looking here.”

A self-proclaimed
history buff who already commutes to in New York City for work, Vick says she
began looking for information about areas to the north and was impressed by the
photos of old buildings and historic properties in Newburgh that she was able
to find online.

“What struck me
was the architecture. I feel like it’s only a matter of time before Newburgh
goes through the same restoration process as the boroughs in New York City,”
she says.To get others who may be
looking for a great spot to put down roots and raise a family to see the city
in a more positive light, Vick began a blog last year about Newburgh’s restoration
and renovation efforts by individuals and groups like Habitat for Humanity.

Days of Old

Before Newburgh was
even a city, it was declared to be “a pleasant place to build a town” by Henry
Hudson when he made his expedition up the river in 1609. Still the first
settlement wasn’t made until 100 years later by German Lutherans who named the
area the Palatine Parish by Quassic. By the middle of the century, the area was
comprised mostly of folks of English and Scottish descent who changed the name
to Parish of Newburgh after a place in Scotland in 1752. Newburgh was the
Continental Army’s headquarters from 1782 until the army was disbanded here
near the end of 1783. Not only did General George Washington sleep here, he
also received the letter suggesting he become king here as well. Legend has it
that to honor his vehement refusal to become a monarch, the name of the street
behind the headquarters was changed from Kings Highway to Liberty Street.

Originally the
county seat of Ulster County, Newburgh became part of Orange County when county
lines were redrawn in 1789. Eleven years later, it was incorporated as a
village and was eventually chartered as a city in 1865.

Because of its
location on the Hudson between Albany and New York City, Newburgh became a
transportation hot spot during the industrial boom of the 1800s and underwent
an economic peak when manufacturing industries moved in. But when those same
businesses began to relocate to other places in the late 1900’s and
transportation activity shifted from the river to the roads, it ushered in an
economic decline the city is still trying to climb out of today.

“Right now, we’re
still in transition,” says mayor Nicholas Valentine. “We haven’t made it yet to
where we want to be.”

Still, change is
on the horizon, he says, sparked in part by grass-root development efforts,
people making investments in run-down buildings that dot the landscape in some
neighborhoods, a new city courthouse that opened in June on Broadway, the
upcoming opening of the new SUNY Orange campus, business booms in pockets of
the city and the return of the forms of transportation that encourage people to
leave their cars behind – including a city-wide trolley set to be up and
running in about a year and a return to the waterway.

“The
[Newburgh-Beacon] ferry has been huge,” Valentine says of the vessel that
re-opened in 2005 and transports commuters to and from the Metro North train
station on the other side of the Hudson in Beacon. He acknowledges that the
lack of public transportation has been a problem for the city but one the city
intends to tackle head-on. “You can’t do what we want to do without mass
transit,” he adds.

Newburgh's Renaissances

Since the economic bust the city experienced near the turn
of the last century, many attempts to restore Newburgh to its former glory have
made. During the political turbulence that was the 1960s, the city set the
wheels in motion for a new urban renewal plan that involved demolishing the
waterfront area, which had been home to shopping, restaurants, theater and
other entertainment when times were better. Historic buildings that many called
home were also leveled and a promise of relocating the displaced to new housing
projects the city planned to build was made. But the oil embargo and the oil
crisis of 1973 happened and the federal and state dollars that were to help pay
for the new housing structures were no longer available. The area remained
empty until the late 1990’s when a new effort by the city to bring businesses –
and tax revenue – back to the waterfront came to fruition. Today, the 35-acre
property has been completely redesigned and is home to some of the city’s most
unique restaurants and spas, a movie theater and shops. Just try to find a
parking space anywhere near Torches restaurant – which is at one end of the
waterfront space – or 26 Front Street – the spot for live music, dancing and
great food at the other end – between 5pm and midnight on a Thursday, Friday or
Saturday night.

“But there’s more
to Newburgh than just the waterfront,” says Caffé Macchiato’s Ballarini.
“People tell us they are happy to rediscover Newburgh. Without the culture,
there was no real reason to visit the area.”

It seems like
every decade or so a push to revitalize the city is made, says Leetha
Berchielli, who has owned Mrs. Max, a full-service dance store housed in the
Lake Street Plaza for almost 28 years. “Every time it happens, the dips are a
little smaller and the peaks are a little bigger. It’s exciting.”

Berchielli, who
recently opened a second location with her daughter, Holly, on Liberty Street a
few doors down from Caffé Macchiato says it’s good to see the business owners
on the block push forward for a bit of change from the norm. “We all so
strongly believe in Newburgh on this street,” she says. “We want it to be a
good happy place for people.”

A City of Firsts

As quiet as it’s kept, Newburgh has had an impressive run of
historic firsts. Did you know that the first Edison power plant in the country
was built here, which enabled Newburgh to be the first city in the U.S. to be
electrified? It was also one of the first cities to fluoridate its water supply
and, according to the Newburgh Historical Society, was one of the first cities
in the country to give “routine governmental authority” to a city manager in
1915. But much more of what happens on a day-to-day in the city isn’t always
noted.

“I think Newburgh
falls under the radar, but the reality is that it is a hotbed of arts and
culture,” says Tricia Haggerty Wenz, executive director of Safe Harbors of the
Hudson, a non-profit agency housed in the restored Hotel Newburgh with a
mission of transforming lives and building better communities through housing
and the arts. “For me, that’s one of the highlights.”

For the cultural
buzz that hums within Newburgh, Haggerty Wenz credits the emerging art
galleries, schools like the Newburgh Arts Academy, local businesses on Liberty
Street and in other neighborhoods as well as lower Broadway’s new venue for
live performances and local art – the Ritz Theater – which has hosted several
sold-out concerts and cultural events in the last year.

“They create
pockets of stability. There’s been a little more pride in the city. I’m
starting to see more people stroll the streets than before,” she says.

Mayor Valentine
agrees. “It seems that whenever we do something cultural, it takes off.
[People] will come if you do it,” he says. “We need a lot more of that. We get
set backs – like the economy – but they are small steps back, not big ones.
There’s a lot of new activity still going on.”

Valentine also
credits the renewed pride to the reality that Newburgh isn’t really one
homogenous city, but a conglomeration of very different, very unique
neighborhoods. As an example, he points out that the city’s East End is very
urban while the West End is “almost suburban.” Neighborhoods like Washington
Heights and Colonial Terraces are as different from other sections as they are
from each other.

“We have a lot of
neighborhoods that make Newburgh a special place. All the communities are
unique and can’t really be lumped together, which is a good thing,” he says.

The Youth Gap

One of the biggest complaints from young people in the area
is often that there isn’t much for them to do. With only three area movie
theaters (two of which are not actually in the city itself), no skating rink or
other place for teens to hang out, Newburgh’s youth sing the same tunes.

“There’s nothing
geared towards folks mid-teen to 30 or so unless you have kids,” says Holly Berchielli,
who runs the new Mrs. Max boutique on Liberty Street with her mother, Leetha.
“I think that’s a big deal.”

To give the young
people another venue, Holly says she’s pushing to host concerts at nearby
Washington’s Headquarters this summer and will also begin re-publishing Outsider Magazine, a local music, art,
tattoo, car and poetry publication that has been on a two-year hiatus.

“The city’s not
involved with talking to the young people. I guess it’s up to us business
owners to make that happen because how successful can a city be if in the
middle no one is interested?”

It is a gap that
Valentine fully acknowledges. “We don’t have some cultural things – like coffee
shops, places to dance, book stores – that a city needs for young people. We
once had three hotels and seven theaters. That did it. We need something like
that again.”

Until then,
Haggerty Wenz thinks the variety that is Newburgh will eventually characterize
it more than the negative images and stereotypes will.

“I don’t think
the crime and blight defines us. What defines us is the diversity,” she says.
“I love this city.”

About Me

I'm a publicist, writer, editor, adjunct journalism instructor and karateka who started down the martial path at age 37 - just three months after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Began radiation treatment and karate training while in graduate school (and earned a Master's with a big, fat 4.0, BTW!) because it really felt good to hit something and scream like a banshee - and it was cheaper than therapy :-).